Archive for April, 2012

We mentioned earlier in the week about Surrey County Council using the BlackBerry Solution as a way of running the business more effectively. University Hospital Birmingham are also big BlackBerry fans and utilize the BlackBerry Solution to enable both management and medical staff to stay in touch on and off site while having secure patient information accessible on their BlackBerry.

A reliable, secure and robust solution in a clinical environment.

Real time access to patient information.

BlackBerry MVS for efficient communications.

You can see a video below of how the hospital makes best use of the BlackBerry Solution.

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BlackBerry World 2012 kicks off on Tuesday in Orlando and we will be there to cover any gossip or announcements that are made.

As well as the BlackBerry World taking place RIM are holding a developer conference called BlackBerry Jam at the same time. It is common knowledge that the developers attending will each be given a BlackBerry 10 Alpha device. What this is likely to be is a touch screen device running the PlayBook OS to allow devs to prepare apps for the new platform later in the year. I’m pretty excited about trying the OS on a device smaller than the PlayBook although I would image that many features will be disabled so it wont actually be a working phone.

What we will see though is RIM’s vision over the next few years and how they intend to revamp their popularity in certain countries.

Stay tuned over the next four days as we should have a slurry of interesting news for you BlackBerry fans.

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Only announced two days ago the Samsung Galaxy S Advance has already landed at tracyandmatt towers. It may be left out of the limelight due to the Galaxy S III being announced next week but I am quite surprised as to how nice the device is.

Sporting a 4 inch Super AMOLED display and powered by a 1GHz dual core processor the Advance is pretty nippy. Unfortunately it is only running Android 2.3 which may well put some people off.

This won’t dissuade me from giving the device a good run for its money. I shall be taking with me to the USA this weekend so I should get plenty of time to put it through its paces.

If you fancy picking one up now Clove have the device in stock sim free.

You can see the unboxing and demo below:

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A NEW app for mobile phones is available that asks the public to help in identifying thousands of images relating to low level crimes from across London in a bid to increase the number of wanted identifications made.

The Metropolitan Police Service has provided more than 2,000 images for use by the Facewatch app, which was launched on Tuesday 17 April and is available on BlackBerry, Android and Apple smartphones.

The app enables the user to enter their local postcode and then view a selection of unidentified images of potential suspects and witnesses that the police would like to talk to. If an image is known to the viewer they have the opportunity to enter a name and or address that is confidentially conveyed to the police.

The app has already been responsible for the identification of 29 people during its trial among police officers over the past two months.

Borough Comander Gary Buttercase said: “Officers leave no stone unturned when they are looking for a suspect. Any new tools developed through technological advancement that are made available to us in the fight against crime are a welcome addition. Apps such as this one have the potential to save a lot of Police time. I would urge everyone to view these images and name those pictured to help make our borough and our capital city even safer. Helping us to identify people could remove a criminal from your area.”

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Sony Mobile has shared their update schedule for Ice Cream Sandwich on their devices. Additionally, the Sony Tablet S is currently receiving the update OTA, starting even before the time of this article. Here’s a quote with some details:

Quote:

As for Sony’s 2011 Xperia phones, the update is “progressing as planned” and will be deployed as planned. Here’s a list of the handsets that will get ICS first:

Xperia arc S,

Xperia neo V

Xperia ray

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ZTE has announced that Virgin Media will be a launch partner for the ZTE Tania Windows Phone smartphone in the UK. From mid May 2012, Virgin Media online and retail stores throughout the country will make the ZTE Tania available for Pay Monthly and Pay-as-you-go* customers.

Ideal for both professional and personal use, the ZTE Tania makes it simple to connect and share with friends, family and colleagues. Virgin Media pay monthly customers will be able to enjoy a range of competitive tariffs and existing Virgin Media customers can benefit from a range of exclusives such as a £5 reduction on their monthly tariff, double the texts, double the data and 3,000 minutes to other Virgin Mobiles. Virgin Media home phone customers can also enjoy free calls to Virgin Mobiles** within their inclusive Talk Plan.

The ZTE Tania comes fully equipped with Microsoft’s latest release of Windows Phone. Windows Phone has a wide range of fully integrated functionalities such as a direct link to users’ Xbox LIVE accounts, an intuitive and seamless sync for Microsoft Office Mobile, and Zune music streaming. The phone’s Live Tile feature brings friend and family groups to life by delivering the latest updates and news from popular social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn directly to the home screen.

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When it comes to buying a new smartphone, pocket appeal and a long battery life are two of the top priorities according to a recent report from Strategy Analytic. So step in the Motorola RAZR MAXX – which delivers this and so much more!

With its impossibly thin and lightweight design, this iconic handset boasts features with the wow factor and a battery that can handle even the most demanding lifestyle. The Android powered Motorola RAZR MAXX is expected to be available in the UK from mid-May, so you can start talking, texting, typing, watching and more. for even longer.

RAZR MAXX delivers up to 17.6 hours of talk time so you won’t spend your day plugged into the wall. Similarly, its 1GB RAM combined with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and Android operating system will ensure you are always entertained, delivering a lightning-fast user interface and the power to multi-task like never before. You can rock your playlists while checking email, breeze through photos – all day, every day, all at the same time.

Still seriously thin at just 8.99mm, RAZR MAXX is the exact opposite of frail. It’s made strong with KEVLAR fibre, while Corning Gorilla Glass defends the hyper-vibrant 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display from scratches. And every part of the Motorola RAZR MAXX is protected by a splashguard coating, which even extends to the electrical boards inside, ensuring a go anywhere, do everything attitude.

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Cable internet is a type of broadband internet access which uses optical fibre rather than copper telephone lines or wireless. It uses the same infrastructure as is used to provide cable television and it is generally bundled for the user in the form of cable TV and internet packages.

The principal advantage of cable internet over internet provided over telephone lines, for instance using ADSL, is the connection speed. Whilst ADSL is pushed to provide broadband speeds much in excess of 10 Mbps (Megabits per second), cable can provide broadband speeds over and order of magnitude faster. 100 Mbps is currently available to many users and 200 Mbps and even 300 Mbps is expected to be available in the not too distant future. Even those speeds are not the limit either; eventually cable internet users can anticipate speeds of 1 Gbps or even higher.

The problem with cable internet is that it is not available to everyone, particularly for people who live in more rural locations. Around 80% of homes in the UK are able to receive cable and although the number is growing on a daily basis, it will be some time before cable is capable of generally replacing copper.

If you are unfortunate to live in an area that does not have cable broadband or does not seem to be getting it in the foreseeable future, then your only options are ADSL or wireless. Fortunately ADSL technologies are much better than just a few years ago. ADSL2+ is the latest innovation in broadband access over copper lines, and it is capable of delivering broadband speeds of up to 25 Mbps, but again not for all users. The broadband speed falls off with the distance between the provider and user, and if you are very remote from the provider then your speed will be very limited.

There are plans afoot to improve broadband access to rural areas using wireless technology. When the switch over from analogue to digital TV has been completed, the radio frequency bands currently used for analogue TV will be licences to mobile network suppliers for 4G mobile communications. Some of the lower end frequencies will be used for reaching rural users and the higher end for urban users. Theoretically this should mean that high speed broadband will become available to all, and speeds as high as 1 Gbps are being talked about; however from experience with current 3G connectivity, the reality of broadband speeds always seem to fall far short of the theoretical.

If it seems unfair that urban dwellers are not able to access the same sort of broadband speeds that are available in larger conurbations, then that it because it is unfair. As all of our lives and businesses become increasingly dependent on high speed broadband we are in danger of creating a two speed economy, which can’t be good for the economic and social future of the UK.

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Samsung Mobile UK has today announced the Galaxy S Advance will be available in the UK from 30th April. Joining Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy portfolio, the Galaxy S Advance boasts the same sleek and stylish design of the award-winning Galaxy S II.

Simon Stanford, Vice President, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “We’ve been pleased with the response we’ve had from customers, partners and media since announcing the Galaxy S Advance in January. As with many of our smartphones before it, the Galaxy S Advance features a screen which uses our Super AMOLED technology so anyone that buys one will experience unparalleled colour and vivid clarity when viewing any content on the device.”

A dual-core 1.0GHz processor and HSPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity means owners of the Galaxy S Advance can enjoy a highly responsive interface and super-fast speeds when browsing the web and downloading content, as well as smoother screen transitions and faster image processing.

Featuring Android Gingerbread and Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, the Galaxy S Advance allows users to stay connected at all times through Samsung Hubs which offer access to music, books and games. Samsung’s own cross-platform communication service ChatON offers easy instant messaging and group chatting and allows content to be shared in multiple formats to make messaging simpler and more intuitive. Owners of the device will also benefit from its Find My Mobile feature, a lost-phone management system that enables customers to trace their missing device directly via the Internet or even delete the device’s data remotely – ensuring personal information remains safe.

The Galaxy S Advance will be available in the UK across a variety of networks including Phones 4u and Vodafone.

Full specs and images below:

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Over in Vietnam the unannounced BlackBerry Curve 9320 has been making an appearance. The device looks more or less identical to the 9220 that was released in India last week apart from it has a silver bezel as opposed to the black one on the 9220.

The 9320 is the 3G variant that I am certain we will see here in the UK to replace the 8520 and 9300. The OS 7 device gets a boost in the camera department and now a 3.2mp with flash, compared to the 2mp in the 9220.

I would image we would see some official announcements from RIM very soon on this one.